How's it going, peeps! I know, I know. It has been a very LONG time since my last post. I do apologize for that. College is starting to slowly take effect into my system (side effects include but are not limited to: eyebags, pimples, stress, less time to do what you want, sleepless nights). However, I do still have some free time left. That is why I had the chance to visit last week's 35th Manila International Book Fair! Yippee! The MIBF is known for being the country's largest gathering of all things book. If you have read my last post, you would get the idea (if not, click HERE) and now I am writing to share with you my very own MIBF experience! So without further ado, let's get it started.
The event started at 10 AM although we arrived near noon. And as I expected, since it was the last day of the 5-day event, the MIBF was ultra-packed! A long line for the entrance was awaiting us outside but luckily it moved quickly. When we got inside, there was people EVERYWHERE.
The next thing to do was to get tickets. Tickets were priced PHP 15.00 for students and PHP 20.00 for adults. I thought they were going to have their own tickets, which I figured would be a great remembrance but sadly (maybe since it's the last day and they ran out), I got this instead *sigh*:
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| And now my phone decides to focus. Great timing, phone. -_- |
Of course, the next move was almost instinctual. I went inside and strolled around! There was a line surrounding the National Book Store booth and I think that it was for the Jennifer E. Smith and Lissa Price double book signing event. I don't think I could stand in line for so long if I was in their place, though, with all the books surrounding the area. Haha. NBS' booth was HUGE by the way. It was almost like a quarter of the whole venue. Aside from books (which were all on sale), stationery was also available in their booth. After looking around for a while I decided to go to the other book store that all PH bookworms know: Fully Booked!
By the way, you remember Kevin Dones, right (blogger of Tomebound whom I met on Instagram and then met face-to-face during the Alex London event)? Little did I know that I would see him once again in that booth! He's not hard to miss since he has that thing that I had given up on trying to have a long time ago: height. #HUGOT Hahaha. Anyway, I approached him again to say hi and we chit-chatted for a short while. {To Kevin: I always forget to get a photo with you lol. Anyway, see you again soon!} After a quick chat {To Kevin again: we've got to start lengthening our conversations more haha}, we finally parted ways (but don't worry, we still ran into each other a couple of times after that meet-up). After that, I decided to roam around and look at what every booth has to offer.
I ran into this book "museum" by Rex Book Store which I thought was absolutely awesome at first, but turned out to have, like, only a couple of exhibits. Still cool though.
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| Sorry! My phone was being moody during the event. Anyway, it says "The Biggest Book". |
After taking pictures with my phone which obviously did not want to cooperate with me (hence the blurred pics), I roamed the entire venue to see what's up. As it turned out, majority of the booths left were either Bible/inspirational book stores or textbook stores or children's book stores so I decided to return to the two big bookstores I love once again to look for books to buy. And while looking around at the NBS booth...
It was Geronimo Stilton and his sister Thea Stilton! The Geronimo Stilton! I know. It's a mascot for crying out loud but still! You probably don't know why I'm freaking out about this so let me tell you why. You see, the first book (or at least what I really felt was a real book, not the 0.00001 micrometer thick children's books with pictures) I ever read was a Geronimo Stilton one! I was in Grade 2 back then. And that was what sparked my passion for reading. My school when I was in elementary always had Scholastic book fairs, and I always made sure I got at least 1 Geronimo Stilton book from that fair every year. That small tradition of mine lasted for 5 years! So you could only imagine the nostalgia I felt when I saw them. They were there to do a book signing, which was odd considering they were only mascots (but the kids would buy it though lol). After this I met up with my bookworm high school friend and we both looked for books to buy.
I figured since it was the last day of the fair, competition between buyers is at its peak and shelves are starting to be empty. I decided it was time to turn on my game face. But alas! I wasn't able to look for anything to buy at the NBS booth (Sorry NBS!) so I decided to go to the Fully Booked booth instead. I ended up buying three books from Fully Booked. All were priced 20% off! Woohoo! I also got to ask for an MIBF Fully Booked ticket from the counter. Brace yourselves since this ticket (which is now a bookmark) is totally powerful!
I was just too stupid to accidentally fold the top part but it still looks cool! And this was my book haul from the MIBF!
Hooray for my bookshelf! As of now I have already finished Wonder and all I could say about it is WOW! Book review coming soon!
And that was my 35th Manila International Book Fair experience! All in all I can say that I enjoyed the experience, although I am pretty sure that I would have enjoyed it more if I had more money hahaha. Also, I bet it would be better if I went earlier and not on the last day. But I still had a great time despite the given circumstances. Did you attend the event as well? What are your thoughts about it? Let me know in a comment. Once again, I apologize for the lack of activity but I assure you there's going to be more content coming soon! ;) Keep on reading!
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